Featured Database Articles

About the Series ...

This
article is a member of the series Introduction to MSSQL Server Analysis
Services. The series is designed to provide hands-on application of
the fundamentals of MS SQL Server Analysis Services, with each
installment progressively adding features and techniques designed to meet
specific real - world needs. For more information on the series, as well as
the hardware / software requirements to prepare for the exercises we
will undertake, please see my initial article, Creating Our First Cube.

Note: Service Pack currentupdates are assumed for MSSQL Server, MSSQL
Server 2000 Analysis Services, and the related Books Online
and Samples. Images are from a Windows 2003 Server
environment, upon which I have also implemented MS Office 2003, but the
steps performed in the articles, together with the views that result, will be
quite similar within any environment that supports MSSQL Server 2000 and MSSQL Server 2000 Analysis Services ("Analysis
Services" or "MSAS"). The same is generally true,
except where differences are specifically noted, when MS Office 2000 and
above are used in the environment, in cases where MS Office components
are presented in the article.

Introduction

In this article, we will examine a subject that is near and
dear to broadly focused report authors - the use of cube structure to
create desired cosmetic effects - in the Cube Browser, and more
importantly, in a reporting environment. I constantly get e-mails, and see
questions in forums and elsewhere, asking how to achieve effects that are not
apparently "available" in "intuitive" cube structures, such
as any of those that we see in the sample cubes. One of the apparent "shortfalls"
that frustrate users is their inability to display the same dimension on both
the "x-" and "y-" axes for presentation purposes.

In this article, we will examine an approach to meeting the
relatively common requirement to present a crosstab display where both axes of
the display contain the same dimension, as well as examining other
considerations that might be relevant in such a scenario. We will:

Present an
illustrative, hypothetical business need for a crosstab display whose axes
contain the same dimension;

Create a copy
of the Warehouse sample cube for use in our practice session;

Prepare the
cube copy further by processing;

Add a member
property to support a new virtual dimension;

Create a virtual
dimension, based upon the member property, to support the
presentation requirement we have been given;

Add a calculated
member to present a percentcontribution to total value;

Examine the
results of our handiwork in the Analysis Services Cube Browser;

Examine the
results of our handiwork, from a reporting perspective, in the MDX
Sample Application.